The present disclosure relates generally to turbine engines and, more specifically, to systems and methods of mitigating thermal rotor bow in turbine engines.
Turbine engines, such as turbofan engines, experience several different phases of operation including, but not limited to, startup to idle speed, warmup, acceleration to higher power and speed for takeoff, climb, cruise, steady-state, deceleration to lower speed and power for descent, landing and taxi, shutdown, and cool-down. Turbine engines may cycle through the different phases of operation several times a day depending on the use of the aircraft to which the turbine engines are attached. For example, a commercial passenger aircraft typically shuts down its engines in between flights as passengers disembark from the aircraft. As such, residual heat remains in the aircraft's engines, which can cause a phenomenon known as thermal rotor bow. Thermal rotor bow is generally defined by deformation in the rotating and stationary components of the turbine engine. Deformation in the components of the turbine engine can result in contact-related damage between the rotating and stationary components of the turbine engine during engine startup, thereby reducing the service life, performance, and operability of the turbine engine.
Thermal rotor bow is especially prominent at times after engine shutdown, and before the engine is allowed to fully cool. Moreover, many known turbine engines are unable to naturally mitigate thermal rotor bow during startup as the design of modern commercial turbofans shifts towards having higher bypass ratios and greater length-to-diameter ratios, as well as tighter clearances between rotors and stators of the engine.